On Thursday July 14 a scrap dealer contacted the
Virginia Radioactive Materials Program (
VRMP) indicating a load of steel had set off their alarm. The scrap yard was able to identify the material that set off the alarm and isolate. On Friday July 15
VRMP staff went to the scrap yard to perform surveys and identify the material in question. The investigation determined that the material had come from the demolishing site of Dan River, Inc, a former textile business that closed in 2008. The
gauge was determined to contain
Kr-85 utilizing a radionuclide identifier and the GL database, which lists three Mahlo Controls
Kr-85 gauges being possessed by Dan River, Inc. The
VRMP continues to work with the scrap yard and demolishing company looking for the other two
gauges.
VRMP is also working with Mahlo Controls in researching the three
gauges in question.
The sources in these generally licensed devices were originally 100 milliCuries each. It is estimated that they have decayed three half-lives and the current strength is estimated at approximately 13 milliCuries each.
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A "LESS THAN CAT 3" LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
Sources that are "Less than
IAEA Category 3 sources," are either sources that are very unlikely to cause permanent injury to individuals or contain a very small amount of radioactive material that would not cause any permanent injury. Some of these sources, such as
moisture density gauges or thickness
gauges that are Category 4, the amount of unshielded radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected, could possibly - although it is unlikely - temporarily injure someone who handled it or were otherwise in contact with it, or who were close to it for a period of many weeks. For additional information go to
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf